Abstract:

South African informal settlement communities are faced with infrastructural
cha llenges such as a lack of proper housing, poor sanitation, poor electrical
connections, if any, poor medical facilities and various social health risks such as
HIV/Aids, TB and other STDs, as well as high levels of violence and crime. Young girls
form a portion of the demographics of such informal settlements. Most adolescent
girls, between the ages of 13 and 18 years are at an increased risk merely because
they are physica lly smaller than their male peers, are able to become pregnant and
have to compete with multiple siblings and family members. Most of these young
girls have to leave school to act as heads of households, to provide an income or
because they have become pregnant. These factors form the crux of disaster risk
reduction initiatives as such initiatives focus on bui lding up the resiliency of those
who are most vulnerable in society.
This study focuses on the aspects of disaster risk, risk reduction and communitybased
disaster risk awareness. The study is unique in that combines the fie lds of
development communicat ion and disaster risk reduction and the principles of
participative development communication form the guidelines throughout the
study. The purpose of the study is to determine whether the inclusion of
development communication principles could increase stakeholder involvement and
whether development communication could address the gaps that have been
identified within the G. I.R.R.l. Programme as a community-based disaster risk
reduction initiative. This community-based initiative is known as the Girls In Risk
Reduction Leadership (G. I.R.R.l.) Project and was designed to implement within a
disaster risk reduction capacity. Focus groups were held with the participants of the
G.I.R.R.l. Project and semi-structured interviews were held with the project team.
The results of the research indicate the importance of baseline research before
implanting a community-based disaster risk reduction initiative. The findings
support the principles of development communication within disaster risk reduct ion
and are applied to the G.I.R.R.L. Programme and the respective limitations that were
identified by the research.
The study highlights the importance of participat ion in community-based disaster
risk reduction in it iat ives and places young adolescent girls in the spotlight.
Development communication is an important aspect to consider and this study
outlines its ro le in the disaster risk reduction environment.